Monday, August 27, 2007

"TEHRAN (Reuters) - Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi said she had asked the United Nations to investigate the status of women in Iran and accused Iranian authorities of detaining activists demanding more women's rights.Ebadi, speaking at a press conference on Monday marking the first anniversary of a campaign to gather 1 million signatures in favour of women's rights in the Islamic state, said she had contacted top U.N. human rights official Louise Arbour.""I have written a letter to the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and complained for the first time, and said this is the situation of women rights in Iran and these are our demands," Ebadi said."Please send a special rapporteur to Iran to report on women, to investigate the conditions for women," she said, describing her message to Arbour.